Archibald S. Elder

Archibald Stephenson Elder (14 May 1806-18 July 1868) was a member of the Florida House of Representatives (D) from Florida's 1st congressional district from 1836 to 1842, preceding Jethro P. Morrison.

Biography
Archibald Stephenson Elder was born in Macon, Georgia, United States on 14 May 1806 to a family of cotton farmers, and his family moved to Florida after it was ceded to the United States in 1819. Elder served in the US Army during the wars against the Seminoles, and he became the owner of his own cotton plantation. Elder was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1836 as a member of the conservative Democratic Party, and he advocated states' rights in response to the growing power of the abolitionist US Whig Party in the government. In 1838, talks of secession began on the streets of St. Augustine, and Elder was among the secessionist Democrats who would hold the government hostage. Elder decided to return to his plantation in 1842, and Jethro P. Morrison succeeded him in the State House. Elder lost a fortune after the American Civil War's end in 1865, and he died in 1868.